Not Getting Your Greens? Nathaniel Can Help!

Having trouble getting your veggies every day? It can be hard sometimes! Our family loves taking a green drink to help us meet the optimal requirements for our daily intake of fruits and veggies. Experts agree that we should be eating 5-9 servings of fruits and veggies per day, 4-5 of which should be dark, leafy greans like kale and chard. Unfortunately, if you're an average American, you're only eating 3 servings of fruits and vegetables every day. That's falling dreadfully short of recommendations that have been proven to ward off cancer, heart disease, vision problems, and other degenerative diseases. If you can't get enough of these life giving veggies, a high quality green drink can do wonders for you.




Click here for more information on our family's favorite green drink.


For the lowest price I've seen online, including shipping, I'd recommend purchasing it here: http://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Food-Berry-Garden-Life/dp/B0010WD32Y

Note: there is a note on the Perfect Food Berry container stating, "not for children." however, I think it's completely fine for Nathaniel to drink some here and there. I do, however, recommend it daily for adults!

Further Proof for the Necessity of Organically Grown Food

Did you know that 67 various pesticides are lurking in your child's celery stick? (Even if it's decorated with innocent looking peanut butter and raisins for ants on a log!)  It's true, if you are buying conventional produce.

My father in law sent me this article the other day.  It is a great piece done by CNN, who is doing a series called, "Toxic America."

It's a really great study of organic fruits and vegetables versus conventional.  I had to chuckle, though, because CNN makes it seem like they are on the cutting edge of this news story.  They're not breaking any news that God didn't reveal thousands of years ago.  :)

Check out the original article for yourself at:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/06/01/dirty.dozen.produce.pesticide/index.html?npt=NP1

My Weekend Lesson!

After 5 years on the Maker's Diet, you would think that I knew better!  I had quite an adventure (not a fun one!) this weekend and had to share with you all.  On Friday night, a gracious and much appreciated friend volunteered to babysit our boys after they went to bed, so my husband and I could go on a much needed night out.  "Let's go to that organic restaurant downtown for dessert," my husband said.  So off we went, thrilled to be out together sans the little ones, as much as we love them!

 When we got to the restaurant, we were seated outside, and the waitress brought out the dessert tray.  Normally, I do not eat any desserts out of my own home, no matter how tempting they look.  But, since it was an organic restaurant (although we'd never eaten there before together) I thought I would be in the clear.  However, I should have known better!  Just because products can be "organic", does not mean they are not refined!  I should have questioned the waitress further to find just how refined their organic dessert ingredients were.  I would have saved myself quite the painful experience.

We decided on a peanut butter chocolate piece of cake.  I took one bite, and knew it was not a dessert made with organic, sprouted, or at least whole grain flour, and Rapadura instead of sugar.  And it didn't even taste good.  The peanut butter topping was insanely sweet, the cake too chocolate-ey, and just overall tasted like something one would buy at Safeway.

I believe I took one more bite after that initial one, and decided my initial evaluation was correct! I put down my fork and drank water instead.  After we left, we walked around a beautiful, open shopping center.  The night was gorgeous and everyone was dressed in their summer finest, but I just wanted to go home.  My stomach, which was fine when I left home, was now feeling like a dead weight had been transported directly under my rib cage.  I so wanted to enjoy this special time with my husband, but all I could think about was how badly my stomach hurt.

Finally, we got home, and I kept guzzling water, and prepared for bed.  I took some of Garden of Life's phenomenal digestive enzymes, called Omega Zymes. (I don't know where I'd be without these!)  I took 4 of them and went to bed, figuring that with only two bites, and the digestive enzymes, I'd be fine by the morning.

Boy was I wrong.  I couldn't have been asleep for more than an hour or so when I awoke with gut wrenching pain. I felt like I was being stabbed directly under my left rib.  I took some more water and several more Omega-Zymes, but it wasn't going away.  Then, I started getting that awful feeling in my stomach and throat, when you just know you'd better hurry up and get to the bathroom.

I'll spare you the lovely details, but the short story is that I spent most of the night vomiting, and in such awful stomach pain that most normal people would probably have woken up their spouses, and gone to the hospital.  (I'm still working on achieving the status of normal!) 

The next day, my stomach still hurt, all day, until Monday morning.  I couldn't believe all that I went through, all for a cake that didn't even taste good!

So the moral of the story is: if you eat very healthily the overwhelming majority of the time, spare yourself the trouble and don't cheat.  You'll probably get sick. (Even if it's "organic"!)  If I had eaten at another organic restaurant near our home, which serves organic, unrefined sugar and organic whole grain flours in its desserts, I would have been fine.  But my body absolutely rejected the refined stuff, albeit organic! 

And the second moral of the story is: if your diet is so "healthy", you might want to ask yourself why it doesn't react immediately when you eat things like trans-fat and chemical laden McDonald's, refined sugar and flour desserts, pastries, and bagels,(or coffee drinks), or pesticide laden fruits and veggies. 

Just something to think about.

I hope you all had a better weekend than I did!

Friday's Food for Thought: Is Organic Really Necessary?

From Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions, page 369, by Sally Fallon:

"Strawberries lead the list of the thirteen most contaminated fruits and vegetables sold in American supermarkets.  According to a 1993 Environmental Working Group study, on some farms strawberries are sprayed with 500 pounds of pesticides per acre.

Red and green bell peppers come next, which are high in neurotoxic residues.  Other highly contaminated foods include spinach, cherries, peaches, Mexican cantaloupe, celery, apples, apricots, green beans, Chilean grapes and cucumbers.

Fruits and vegetables from foreign countries are subject to even less stringent regulations than domestic varieties.  Imported bananas, for example, often are treated with benomyl (linked with birth defects) and chlorpyrifos (a neurotoxin.)

Among grains, rice and oats were found to be the most contaminated.

The solution?  Buy organic, especially when it comes to the popular fruits and vegetables listed above.  Even better, buy biodynamic, which is an all - natural farming technique...biodynamic crops are nourished with naturally composted manure from cows allowed to graze freely."

Toxin Free Baby: My Favorite Diaper Rash Balm (Organic, Of Course!)

When our first son, Nathaniel, was born, we were clueless about the perils diaper rash would present to our lives.  (That was only the first of many things we were clueless about!)  Before we started cloth diapering Nathaniel had a low grade rash all the time.  And if he was teething, he seemed to get diarrhea for a couple days.  This led to some serious diaper rash!  I knew we wouldn't use petroleum products like Vaseline, or a product containing a cocktail of chemicals, but I didn't know what was out there in the organic world- and more importantly, what would be most effective.

Fortunately for us, a fabulous company had already solved our dilemma!  We discovered Earth Mama Angel Baby's organic diaper rash balm when my mom gave it to Nathaniel as a gift.

Oh mi gosh is this stuff amazing!  Diaper rash is the least it can handle- it's also great for acne, exczema, cuts, burns, and practically everything else!  It goes on easy, has a cooling effect on the skin, and heals like a dream.  I honestly don't know where we'd be without it!

And the best part: it's truly, 100% toxin free. There are many "natural"  baby products that still contain chemicals like phthalates and parabens.  (The tricky part is, companies aren't required to list phthalates on their ingredient list, so you have to do your homework beforehand to know which companies don't include them.)  Earth Mama Angel Baby's products are absolutely free of every toxin- and they're becoming increasingly well known because they WORK.  There's no compromises with Earth Mama products- the quality is unparalleled, and so is the efficacy.

Give them a try! I promise you won't be disappointed!  Check out www.amazon.com, www.luckyvitamin.com, www.vitacost.com, and  www.mothernature.com for great prices!

Easy Organic: So Yummy Carrot Cumin Soup

While we are on the topic of what a typical "eating day" on the Maker's Diet might look like, I thought you might all enjoy this lovely soup that I made with dinner last night.  (We also had organic, grass fed chuck roast, organic raw cheese, and organic steamed peas).  I have to admit that I have not always been a huge soup fan.  Until I started the Maker's Diet, that is.  There are so many yummy soups that pack serious nutritional punch, and there is just nothing quite as satisfying as a lovely bowl of soup with dinner.

This recipe is super easy, and although the combination of carrot and cumin is an unlikely one, it is truly delicious!  My soups have gone to a whole new level since being given a VitaMix for my birthday!  They make soups the consistency that you would find at restaurants!  (And that is only one of many feats they can perform). 

If you make this for your family, be sure to let me know what you think!  This would also be a great soup to double and freeze for later.

So Yummy Carrot Cumin Soup
Serves 2-4, depending on serving size

3/4 cup organic onions
2 tbsp organic butter
1 3/4 cup organic carrots
1/2 tspn. organic cumin
1/2 tspn. Celtic or Himalayan salt
2 cups chicken stock (I also use 2 cups organic milk in substitution for the stock, if I happen to be out, and it tastes just as good)


In a saucepan, cook onion in butter over moderate heat until softened.


Add carrots, cumin, and salt, and cook 1 min.


Add stock, (or milk) and simmer mixture 25 minutes, or until tender.


Puree in a blender, food processor, or VitaMix.  Serve hot, garnished with a dollop of organic, full fat sour cream.  (I love Organic Valley's brand). I also love adding some soaked, salted & dried pecans on top of the sour cream.

Happy soup eating!

An Eating Day in the Life...of Jordan Rubin

 

I saw this article from Garden of Life and thought you might enjoy seeing what an "eating" day in the life of Jordan Rubin, the author of the Maker's Diet, is like.  In the future, I will post what menus are like in the Slezinger family home, for adults and kids.  Enjoy this sneak preview into a very healthy day!

 

Upon Waking: 20 oz.. of purified water (I drink between 100-120 ounces of water per day on average.)

Before Breakfast: RAW Meal--Beyond Organic Meal Replacement

Breakfast: 3 omega-3 eggs (Gold Circle Farms) cooked in Garden of Life® extra virgin coconut oil and 2 pieces of yeast free spelt toast (French Meadow) with organic butter
  
Lunch: Meat, Fish or Chicken dish; soup (made with real stock and veggies; butternut squash and steamed veggies like broccoli are my favorites.

Before Dinner: Perfect Food® RAW Green SuperFood Drink mixed with water

Dinner:  Organic Green salad  with organic greens (either store bought or grown in my outdoor home hydroponic system), cucumbers, carrots, red peppers, tomatoes, red onions, 1/2 avocado (one of the healthiest foods on the planet), raw soaked and dried seeds, raw cheese and smoked wild caught salmon (Echo Falls is a brand I like.)

After Dinner Snack:   Berries, Sheep's Milk Yogurt (Old Chatham Sheepherder's is the best), Garden of Life® Hawaiian Lehua Honey and vanilla extract

For the original article, click here.